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Manfred's job should be endangered.

Man, did this thread prank me. I came for Trevor Bauer updates and got Nomar Mazara updates. Well played jerks.

The "just bunt or hit the opposite way against the shift" argument reminds me a lot of people saying that certain big men need to just practice free throws more or shoot them underhanded in order to improve their free throw percentage. It is much easier said than done. I don't think these players are willfully not trying to beat the shift via bunting or shortening their swing to hit it throw the shift. That is just really freaking hard to do consistently.

Other players: "Jose is a great RBI guy, hits homeruns but takes a single when he needs to, nice guy" Bauer: <gives comprehensive scouting report on Jose Abreu>

You guys ever tried to bunt a ball coming in at over 90MPH? Maybe go crank up the pitching machine at the batting cages see how consistently you can place one about 15 feet at a particular angle out in front of you. If it was easy, they'd already be doing it. You can count the amount of times a bunt beat the shift this year on one hand. Some possible rules changes I would like to see that would encourage more balls in play: changing drag on the ball via the seams (increase drag), moving mound back (or lowering it) slightly, raising fences or moving fences back. All things that are way less radical than banning defensive positioning.

Manfred is such a giant bag of shit. I'm not going to rant on about this but I can't stand these damned rule changes that eliminate portions of the game which have evolved naturally within the proper context and spirit of the game. Example, the 3 batters rule. You give a manager 25 players to roster and he is likely going to pick 2 specialists, a lefty and a righty. If you give him 5 or 6 less players then he won't, but with 25 or 26, you allow him to specialize and devote specialist players to specialized roles that are important enough to designate as being so special and worthwhile. The lefty and righty specialist evolved naturally out of good competitive spirit. But of course everything about being a commissioner is about revenue and specifically appealing to a seemingly increasingly idiotic generation of people with constantly decreasing attention spans. So of course the desire is to cater to these people because they have money. But I don't give a shit about these people. They're bandwagoners anyway, and for hardcore fans like me, I think the long length of the game and the long length of the season has a lot of appeal. I like to work while having the games on, or put the game on the radio in the car. It's a nice chunk of my day that is made more enjoyable by baseball, and I'm not going to b**** about the length of it. I think a lot of people are like that. Eliminating the shift or trying to is trying again to eliminate another element that evolved naturally within the spirit of the game. Put a bunt down you stupid oaf if you don't like it. Oh you can't bunt? Ok fuck you then, hit the ball on the ground to the 3B playing SS. Grab some bench. That's excellent baseball and IMO isn't doing anything different than before. People just record more information now and use it better but they could have spent all of the 1940s shifting if they wanted to. Eliminating cheating is great. Improving accuracy of the umps by replacing them is great. Making the game more fair for all teams is great. A pitch clock is a great thing. I would love for technology to be added that allowed the pitcher and catcher to communicate wirelessly by their own signals, but ONLY the pitcher and catcher, because adding the dugout into the game allows for micromanaging of everything and really ruins the spirit of the game of pitcher and catcher vs. hitter. But adding tech to the game to make it more fair is great. A pitch clock is great, but must be reasonable. The pitch clock should be longer during the AB. E.g. for the first 5 pitches it is X seconds between pitches, then for pitches 5-8 it is X+2 seconds allowance, and pitches 9-11 it is X+4, and pitches 12+ it is X+6 or something, to allow for extra thought to exist in moments of greater need for strategic thought. But simply b****ing about the length of the game just because a bunch of dumb bandwagoner fans don't like and a bunch of people generally with the attention span of a fly can't handle it is really ruining the game for pitiful benefits. Think about these Yankees vs. Red Sox games that take like 4 hours because the lineups are stacked and every hitter is a tough out and every pitcher has to make a great pitch in like every AB. When you stack a lineup full of great hitters then you are doing a great job as a FO. And as a hitter, if you can survive deep into counts routinely, that makes you a great hitter. As a P, it is one thing to fiddle with your hat and your ass for about half a minute off the rubber before getting back on it but also in the spirit of the game, the P should have the ability to set himself up mentally to make a tough pitch in a tough situation. Really, these long games are often the result of some of the best of the best of the game playing each other. This is a good thing. I wish Manfred was a fly on the wall and I could just swat him. He doesn't care about the game at all. As far as the man on second rule, I actually don't hate it as much as I thought it would, but I would prefer a normal 10th, a man on 1st in the 11th, 2nd in the 12th, and a man on 3rd in 13th and beyond, or something like that, if the rule is going to stick. And in this case I do not believe it harms the spirit of the game because it's about keeping players healthy and members of the pitching staff available for future games. And I believe it should only apply in the regular season and should not apply in any game 163 or playoff game situations. But anyway fuck Manfred with a rusty flag pole.

I'm trying to be apolitical here and look beyond the politics at other roles that our presidents take. I've often believed that POTUS serves as a cheerleader. Looking at my lifetime after Nixon resigned, Ford stumbled, Carter was held hostage by extremists, Reagan literally rode in on a horse and gave America its swagger back. Then after the elderly Reagan and equally elderly Bush left Clinton entered the picture blowing a saxophone and blaring Fleetwood Mac. Again America felt alive. While not my cup of tea I see that Trump has invigorated some Americans and they are digging the vibe and want to believe. I think most posters here agree it's a dangerous path he's taking people on. Comments our presidents make (any of them) I believe are more impactful than any budget or legislation they try to pass. This election isn't about immigration or health insurance, it's become Covid and Twitter.

I could easily bunt to beat the shift 99/100 times. It's simple.

Hey Dick, I truly resisted the temptation to get political in my last post here and did not go that route. In fact I almost typed some pretty crafty political jabs but stopped in my tracks. Don't know why you had to go that route just now. You usually have some good takes on COVID. I don't like today's numbers one iota.

Didn’t you hear POTUS last night? We are rounding the turn. It is going away.

Very scary reports on the virus today in the USA and all over the world as some have posted as the cold weather begins. Can't be good news for college basketball and overseas basketball. Football at least is played outdoors for the most part. Damn, we can't shake this virus. If as expected Biden wins, I would look for IMMEDIATE shutdowns if Covid numbers are like this. Might be the first thing he does. I have this gut feeling I'm gonna be complaining about haircuts very soon again. I prolly should get it cut ASAP to beat the ban if it's coming.

"Not positive" = "less offense" apparently.

Yeah he's pretty much a Tiger, Oriole, or Pirate if/when he gets cut.

I hope you realize even in the worst case scenario of what you proposed, we'd still be in much better shape than we are now. If we don't go after premium pitching, better pray on the moon Kopech comes back and gets back up to speed AND reaches his full potential and FAST, because otherwise we are not going to get over the hump.

Sad, but expected. Cheapen the regular season to the point where it's just a 162 exhibition season. It was bad enough with the addition of a wild card, allowing also rans which couldn't win a four or five team division to be "champion". 16 teams (+ perhaps they'll go to 22 teams like the NHL this year) makes the season a complete farce. With World Series ratings the lowest ever, hard to argue "expanded playoffs" has increased fan interest. Another short term money grab at the expense of long term fan interest and upholding the integrity of the regular season. Several Rotisserie League teams is my primary tie-in to the sport at this point.

i thought this was a Bauer and mostly pitching. Now is it seems it's turned to Mazara dominating? Let's face it, if we got Bauer and another pitcher, Mickey Mouse could play right field if he could catch the ball and hit 250. Hope we can get back on topic, PITCHING IS OUR NEED AS I POINTED OUT.

On the other hand you are coming off as some kind of psychoanalytical debate team coach infatuated with your own intellect. Maybe you 2 should just stop but who will be the adult and not insist on the last word.

This is a really good list. I’d add Jack McKeon at #5 and call it a day.

The entire structure of professional sports have gone in the same direction, as has television, yet you are so fixated on Jerry that you are trying to blame him for ruining baseball. You do realize that this World Series has been on free tv, right? Have you seen NBA playoffs ratings this century? Have you seen the multi decade downward trend? Did you see that this years finals set a new all time low ratings record? Did you ever stop and think that there might be some once in a century externality occurring that could be responsible for the record lows? Did Jerry cause that? Have you seen television ratings in general for this century? Do you realize that not a single television show this century ranks in the top rated shows of all time because of the splintering of television options. Is Jerry responsible for that too? Not sure if Jerry slept with your wife or what, but you are completely irrationally blaming this guy for things that are light years beyond him. Frankly its creepy the level of anger and obsession you have for this guy.

Hats off to Eloy who snagged the inaugural Golden Net award. He did it his way.

Cool video of various MLB stars gushing over Abreu

McCann and Grandal are going against Perez. One of them will probably end up winning it. I'm just here for when Grandal wins it and half of Soxtalk complains about it.

Grandal should be eliminated solely on the basis of that play where the ball went between his legs on that throw home because he wasn't paying attention.

None should win, IMO... maybe Moncada but I haven’t looked at the advanced metrics.

Ugh...

It just cracks me up what is and isn't "crooked" among the 1 percent. JR took a stand when it might cost him a buck, bold.

Just because you interview Sam Fuld for the managerial job, it doesn’t mean that’s the only position in the organization he could ultimately take. They should be talking to everyone.